Electrical connector



May 10, 1955 E HUSTON 2,708,265

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed Feb. 13, 1953 '1 B N w 7% mi i C i i T 2 i 40 l Z 3 Li T ff" It? 3 i i i 5 1 7 7 a g a a g 9 F161 F162 3 Fla?) 3 E E 5 J; 5 fl 5 :2 3 6\ &,/ Heb Z I Y Z -Fl(r.5 4

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ATTORNEY United States Patent ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Elmo F. Huston, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Brass Company, Mansfield, Ohio, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 13, 1953, Serial No. 336,769 2 Claims. (Cl. 339109) This invention relates to connectors and has special reference to connectors of the clip type; that is, which can be clipped onto a trolley wire as by a simple sliding movement of the clip relative to the trolley wire, requiring no screws, clamps, bolts or other similar clamping devices.

The clip is of the spring type and found very useful about mines in particular when a quick and rapid connection of a machine cable can be made with the source of power, usually a trolley wire. Connectors useful for such purpose are known in the art as feeder taps.

Clips have been made before this invention, but most are open to serious objections, as for instance, complicated, requiring considerable time in application, and easy to get out of order and easily damaged, being limited as to the size of trolley wire it will accommodate, 1

applicable only in one manner relative to the trolley wire.

One object of this invention is to provide a spring type clip which is novel, useful, easily and quickly applied to a trolley wire or other suitable conductor, simple in construction, economical to construct and reliable in its functioning.

Another object is to provide a connector which shall have low resistance to the fiow of current and which will have lower heating than in other clips of the spring type.

Another object is to provide a connector which may be connected to the trolley wire in two ways.

Other features of usefulness and novelty will be set forth in the claims and for a full description of this invention reference may be had to the specification following and to the drawing accompanying the specification.

The clip is formed from a single piece of resilient wire of any suitable material such as copper, and it has been found that round trolley wire is quite suitable for the purpose.

The clip is provided with three arms and provides three points of gripping engagement with the conductor to which it is attached. The engagement with the conductor is not permanent as in the case of many types of connectors, but is made by manually sliding the clip onto the conductor or trolley wire where it is held by friction and the pressure of the arms thereon.

Hereinafter the clip is referred to as applied to a trolley wire, as that is the application which will most frequently be made as it is intended primarily for use in mines.

The clip may be removed from the trolley wire by reversing the method of application.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the clip with insulated handle in section showing one application to a trolley wire.

Fig. 2 is another side view of the clip only taken at 120 degrees from Fig. 1 showing another application to a trolley wire.

Fig. 3 is still another view of the clip only taken at 120 degrees from both Figs. 1 and 2.

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Fig. 4 is an end view of the clip portion only of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an end view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an end view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 1 with the trolley wire shown in position.

Fig. '8 is a section on the line 83 of Fig. 2 with the trolley wire in position.

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. v3.

Fig. 10 is a side view of a fragment of the upper end of the clip shown in Fig. 2.

It will be understood that the insulated handle shown in Fig. 1 is omitted from Figs. 2 and 3 only for the reason of simplifying the drawing. One end of the handle is threaded or provided with other means to take the clip which may be detached or renewed when desired.

The handle may be of any suitable construction as for instance those shown .in United States patents to Chandler 1,594,925 and 1,822,883. The handle is preferably of the fused type.

The preferred construction of this clip type of conductor comprises a clip or connecting portion C and a handle portion H.

The clip C is formed from a single length of wire preferably copper, with three parallel arms 1, 2 and 3. The two bights 4 and 5 connecting the arms are preferably of the same radius in which the normal spacing 6 of the arms 1 and 3 is equal to the normal spacing 7 of the arms 2 and 3 and the same is true of their longitudinal axes. The arms are preferably parallel, but not necessarily so.

The arms 1 and 2 are normally spaced a lesser amount than the arms super, and the normal spacing 8 is such as to accommodate the range of trolley Wires for which the clip is constructed. By normal spacing is meant the spacing of the arms as originally made and supplied by the producer (Fig. 4).

The arm 1 is sufficiently long to project beyond the adjacent bight 5 and its end threaded or otherwise treated to attach to the handle H. The end 9 of the arm 2 projects beyond the bight 4 and is slightly bent towards the bight 4 to reduce the normal spacing 8 between the arms 1 and 2 to that shown at 8 between the end 9 of the arm 2 and the bight 4 (Fig. 10). The purpose of the bent end 9 will be later explained.

To the threaded end of the arm 1 is attached a handle H which may be of any design suitable to form an insulated holder for the clip to protect the operator and which is provided with a renewable fuse and casing.

The handle shown comprises a tubular casing of insulating material and an insulating washer 21; a metal member 22 at one end with a threaded opening for the clip and a spring socket 23 to receive one end of the enclosed type fuse 24; the casing 20 and member 22 are secured together by the cooperating threads 25.

At the other end of the casing 20 is a metal member having a spring socket 31 for the other end of the fuse 24; the member 30 is drilled to receive the cable 32 which is held in place by the screws 33; the member 30 is held in place by the threaded insulating plug 34.

In Figs. 1 and 2, the clip is shown as applied to a trolley wire (dotted) in two different ways.

In Fig. 1 the operator grasps the handle and applies the clip to the trolley wire, associating tthe trolley wire with the space 8 at the point A between bight 5 and arm 1 and then pulling the clip longitudinally against the wire (see arrow) and causing the arms 1 and 2 to yield and permit the trolley wire to pass into the space 8 between the arms 1 and 2 which has spread and the clip to assume the relative position about as shown in Figs. 1 and 7.

In Fig. 2, the operator grasps the handle and applies the clip to the trolley wire 40 at the point B where the 3 bight 4 and tip 9 form the space 8 (Figs. 2 and 10) and then pushes the clip longitudinally against the trolley wire in the direction of the arrow causing the trolley wire to pass through the space 8' into the space 8 between the arm 2 and the arms 1 and 3 (Figs. 2 and 8),

V the arms yielding laterally to accommodate the space V 8 to the trolley wire diameter. I

In each case .there will be a three point contact between the clip, arms and the trolley wire, but the trolley wire will engage arm'3 on opposite sides depending upon whether the clip receives the trolley wire from the point A or the point B;

In Fig. 5, the lines x, y and z represent longitudinal planes each including the axes of two arms, and since the arms are parallel or substantially so, the axes will be relatively parallel and hence the planes x, y and 2 will be parallel or substantially so, therefore the planes are normally prismatically arranged.

The clip is provided with the projecting portion 9 of the arm 2 to resist the trolley wire from breaking away from its position between tthe arms 1 and 2, and becoming caught by the loop 4 between the arms 1 and 3, should the clip be twisted relative to the trolley wire into a parallel position with the trolley wire. This may happen in remote instances since the cable 32 is attached to a machine which is movable about the mine and may so pull on the clip as to cause it to assume the above stated relation to the trolley wire.

' It should be noted that the .arm 1, which contacts the trolley wire in case of either'application of the conhaving two reverse bends and three longitudinally directed portions spaced each from the other and each portion being spaced from and extending along one side of the plane of the remaining two portions and an end of one of the said portions projecting beyond the remaining 7 portions, an insulated handle on said end portionan'd cable connecting means within said handle for electrically connecting the feeder cable to said member, whereby the feeder cable may be electrically connected to and supported from an extended energized conductor received between any two of the longitudinally directed portions of the member and the third one of the said portions.

2. The invention in accordance with claim 1, the said longitudinally directed portions being parallel.-

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,935,802 La Rock Nov. 21, 1933 Conrad Apr. 28, 1953 

